Propulsion means



Dec. 5, 1933.

w. R. MOBLEY PROPULS ION MEANS Filed March 12, 1931 V Patented Dec. 5,1933 .15 the propeller and vehicle.

UNITED STATES 1,937,525 7 V PROPULSION MEANS William Robert Mobley,Miami, Fla., assignor oi" one-half t'o'F. W; Bradsby, Louisville, Ky.

. Application March 712, 1931. Serial No. 522,043 7'Claims. (o1.170+135) My invention relates-to improvements in propulsion'means-fo'rwater-craft, air-cra'ftandland vehicles,-comprehending also a novelmethod of effecting locomotion or propulsion of such vehi Heretofore thepropulsion of air-craft and water-craft has'been effected largely bymeans of the conventional screw propeller. The propel1er,-in'eiTect,-screws its way through the a 10 fluid in which it'operates andeither pushes or Y The motion of the fluid set up, namely the forcing ofthe same in the opposite direction to the rotation of thescrewpropellerand the direction of travel of the ship or crait'preventsyinthe case of air-craft, the control or landing of such craft at a lowrate of'speedfi By the same '25 token the ascension of the air-craftfrom the ground is difiicult except when same is traveling at a highrate of speed and the propeller revolvingatahighRRM. l p The presentinvention is calculated to overcome .30 the difficulties mentionedhereinabove an'davoids the loss of power which results from theobjectionable propelling of the in'the opposite direction'to that of thetravel of the craft and aims to provide inadvance of the craft andpropeller a vacuum which, with a high pressure area existing rearwardlyof the craft or propeller, tends to force the propeller and craftforwardly.

- A .further' object of the invention is to effect the forwardpropulsion of the craft by mea'nsfof 40 a novelpropeller which willdisturb but a minimum amount of fluid,-the"propeller being designed soas to prevent the return of fluid once displaced fromin advance of thepropeller.

-The invention also contemplates apropeller,

which in thecase of air-craft will greatly facilitate navigation andcomfort in travel, since the objectionable rearward currents generatedby the propeller, and commonly referred to as backlash, are eliminatedentirely so as to reduce very I 350 materially the element ofroughairlin air-craft navigation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel propulsionmeans, for the'purpose stated which comprehends a driven propeller, witha 5 shield member in rear thereof providing a plane,

or chamber-defining surface,- exposed to the propeller, and the blade orblades of the propeller being substantially; plane and lying'in planessubstantially parallelwiththe .axis of the pro- 6 peller, whereby whenthe propeller isjin operation, to create .by centrifugal action, avacuum-at said surface and in advance-thereof, without rearward drivingof theadjacent'fluid, although the area in rear of said surface will bea high pressure area as compared to the vacuum area in ad-' Vance ofsaid surface which cooperates with the vacuum forefiecting forwardmovement of; the

propeller and body on which it is mounted.

A. further object oi=the invention residesinthe provision of a novelpropeller which utilizes the entire area insfr'ont'which is definedby'the cir-. cumferential path of the'blades, for the" crea-" tion of avacuum, the cross section of which will,

at least, equalthe diameter of the circular path defined by saidblades,whereby'a much smaller propellermay be used than would otherwise benecessary to lift or advance a given weight,' 'the nature of thepropeller and itsmode of opera tion being such that no power will-,belost or .ex-

pended in driving air or fluid continuously a built up pressure in therear;

Another object of the invention is against nomical to manufacture, theunit -comprisingjthe propeller being of-such a nature as'to eliminateparts likely to be broken and get out of :order.

The invention also resides. in certain novel I to provide a propellerwhichis simple in. construction,-"ecofeatures of construction,combination? and: arrangement of the various parts-and in methods ofhereinafter.

It is to be understood thatI have disclosed in the drawingwhat nowappear tobe preferred forms of the invention. However, it clearthat'same are susceptible of considerable change and modification withinthe spirit and scope of the subject matter claimed hereinafter.

In the drawing, 'wherein the same reference characters have been usedtodesignate the sameparts in all views, v

Figure 1 is a side elevational view illustrating one form or"theinvention; i

Figure 2 is a front elevationalview of the deviceof Figure 1'; 7 V

Figure 3 is a sectional view, takenonthe line 33of Figure 2;

,Figure lls a side elevational view of'another for the chambered memberof Figures 1-, 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is 'a fragmentary view, partly broken and partly insection,--disclosing a further'form of the invention whereinachamberedmember and propeller turn-together onthe same center,

and s. Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective View 0 110 form ofinvention, wherein a disk is substituted ticularly to Figure 1, it willbe noted that I have disclosed for purposes of illustration a base-likemember 2sproviding the spaced bearings and supports 3.. for the pintlesa of a semi-spherical chambered member 5. member 5 is supported forpivotal movement about the horizontal axis at 4, whereby the directionof propulsion -may be changed by turning the propeller and with it themember or shield 5' on the axis 4, more or less, relative to thesubstructure, a part of which latter is. shown at 2 and 3.

In carrying out the invention the semi-spherical member 5 is providedwith a bearing 6, in which is journalled a shaft '7 extending throughthe; bearing, and which may be driven by any suitable'source such as amotor, not shown.

. The forward end of the shaft 7 is provided 'witha number of blades 8,of Which four are shown in the present instance.

' when viewed in plan, are shown to be substan- These blades,

tially segmental in shape-with their curved edges outwardly soas toprovide, in effect, a continuationv-of thespherical member 5.

. Assuming the device of Figure 1 to be at rest,

and ready to be started, there will be obviously a quantity of air orother fluid in the spherical recess of-the member 5.- y

. However, upon starting of the shaft '7 and the propeller carriedthereby, it will be obvious that the'blades will'set up strongcentrifugally acting currents in the area about the propeller blades 8.These centrifugally acting. air currents and the action of the rotatingpropeller which create them, will obviously exhaust air from theexposed, or' open, front. of the semi-spherical member 5. Thus, a vacuumwill be created in said member 5yand in the areain front of the blades8. Atmospheric pressure in back ofithe member 5 will naturally tend toforce the member 5 forwardlydue to.- the vacuum created within it, andto its front.

Assuming the unit of Figure l to be mounted on an air-craft, it will bereadily seen that the action setup will result in the craft being suckedthrough-the air as a result of the vacuum created in thechamber ofmemberfi.v

In actual tests made with a small model involving this principle,tremendous power has been generated, Obviously. the device will generatea more power than wih a fan-type propeller which depends very largelyupon the throwing'of the fluid rearwardly to advance the ship or bodywhich carries: the propeller. 1 a

It will be perfectly plain that the/throwing of .the fluid rearwardly bythe screw-type propeller the blades 8 in my propeller, as shown inFigure 1,

creates a channel or vacuum through which the air-craft or ship will bepulled and the surrounding swerving air currents will tend tostabilize-the ship and counteract the effect of any natural air currentsthat may be existent at a particular time.

The matter of. the air currents set up by'my It is evident that thepropeller comprising the blades 8 is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.

Figure 5 illustrates a further form of the invention which comprehends abase 10 providing bearing arms 11, in which is journalled a shaft 12 towhich is keyed a semi-spherical casing 14 similar to the semi-sphericalcasing 5 of Figure 1., In Figure 5 the shaft 12 also carries keyedthereto a fan 13' of the same type shown in Figurel.

It will be obvious that the difference between the construction shown inthe last described form of the invention (Figure 5) and that of Figure 1is that in Figure 1 the semi-spherical casing is stationary and does notrevolve. V p

In further carrying out the invention, I have availed of a: furthermodification, which is shown in Figure 4 and which comprehendsa baseproviding bearing arms 21in which are journalled thestub ends'orshafts22- at diametrically opposite peripheral portions of a disk 23.disk itself is provided with a bearing 24-for a shaft 25 which carriesat-its-outerend the'blades 26, whichv are in all respects similar to theblades shown in the previously described figures.

It will be obvious that the form ofthe invention,

shown in the last embodiment comprising thedisl The 23, differs from theform of invention shown-in Figure 1 only in the absenceofthe sphericalmem- V 1 her 5,-the disk in the last form of theinvention beingsubstituted for the spherical member 5. 4

However, the device of Figure, 4 functions'thev same way, in that avacuum will be created in front of the disk 23 leaving a high pressurearea in rear thereof. The high pressure area rear, and the vacuum infront, produce a sucking .ofthe propeller and craftthrough the air.

It is tobe observed that whileI have illustrated theinvention todisclose a plane surface in rear of the propeller blades, or asemi-spherical chamber,-yet any recess or'chamber of whateverconfigurationinrear-of the rotating fan would serve the same purpose andthe functioning of the device would be identical. 1 r 7 Having thusdescribed my. invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters 'Patent is:

1.'A propulsion" means which is adapted for propelling a body through afluid and. which comprises a member providingfront and rear surfaces, arotorrotary relative to said member-and operating adjacent said frontsurface and having blades disposed radially of the axis of said memher.with their edges and sides in places perpendicular to said. surface, anddriving means for said propeller, and a pivotal mounting-for said partsthe axis of which mounting is cross-wise to the axis of the rotor. V

2. The combination set forth in claim l, andsaid front surface of saidmember being concave and providing a chamberadjacent said blades;

3. The combination set forth in claim 1,. and said front surface beingconcave and providing a chamber closed at its rear whose. cross'sectioniis substantially equal to the diam'eterof the. rotor in advance thereof.7 y

4. Apropulsion means having a rotor and a concave member arranged closeto the rear ofi-the rotor, and fixed relative to'the turning. of therotor, to obstruct rearward flow of air, and acting to promote radialflow of air and the forming of a partial'vacuum in-frontof said memberwhile its rear face is subjected to atmospheric pressure.

5. Ina propeller the combination of apower shaft having a bearing, apivot arranged transe versely to said bearing on which pivot the shaftisadjustable to different angles, propeller blades,

on said shaft, and a shield arranged at the rear of said blades, saidshield being independent of said blades and attached to said bearing andadjustable with the bearing, and said power shaft being rotatablerelative to said shield.

6. A propulsion means having a rotor and a shield member arranged closeto the rear of the rotor to obstruct rearward flow of air, and acting topromote radial flow of air and the forming of a partial vacuum in frontof said shield while its face away from the rotor is subjected toatmospheric pressure, the shield member having a transverse pivotwhereon it is adjustable with the rotor to different angles.

'7. A propulsion means for air craft and the like which-comprises amember providing a surface extending across the axis of the propulsionmeans, a rotor having a blade lying in and'having its sides lying in aplanesubstantially parallel with its axis and substantiallyperpendicular tosaid surface, said rotor being rotary relative to saidmember and adjacent said surface, mounting means including a transversepivot for said rotor and member, and means for driving said rotor and inadvance of said rotor and produce in ade5, whereby its blades createavacuum at said surface dition centrifugal currents about the peripheryof f

